We talked to some folks the other day about going with us to Alaska next July, and mentioned that they would need to get a passport to make the trip. They questioned why since we would be cruising in the United States. I reminded them that one of the current rules of the sea is that if you depart from a port in the United States, you have to visit one foreign port before you return to the states.
In the case of our Alaska trip, our final port is in Vancouver, Canada. . . a foreign port, hence the requirement for a passport. Having a passport is just as important as having clothes on when you are going into or out of a foreign port.
There are two different types of passports. One is called a passport card, and that is the one you use if you are driving into Canada or Mexico. It is one used by folks who work across one of the borders and either walk or drive across. The other is a passport book and it is the one you use when flying to a foreign country. The passport card is less expensive, around $65 while the passport book cost runs around $135. The good thing is that you don’t have to purchase one every year; they are good for 10 years.
I learned something a couple of weeks ago regarding the use of a passport. We had a client who was taking a cruise out of New York and traveling up the Northeast coast of New England, Nova Scotia, and Canada. On the day of the ship departure, as they prepared to leave the hotel to go to the ship, they realized that they had left their passports at home. Panic!!! What to do? So, of course, they called their travel agent.
I suggested that if they had someone back home that could get their hands on the passport and/or birth certificates and make copies then fax or e-mail them to their hotel and just see if the ship would accept them under those circumstances. Of course they had a government-issued ID with their driver’s license with their picture on it. They did have a relative that hustled the copies to them and they presented them to the agent at the cruise port. Interestingly they did not use the passport copies, rather they used the copy of the birth certificate and the driver’s license and allowed them to board the ship. Lesson learned. Travel outside the United States with the passport, and both spouses remind each other before they leave the house to check and make sure they have those passports.
The north window of the downtown post office here in Abilene is where you can get the applications and advice for a passport. You will also need two passport-type pictures taken to include with the application along with your birth certificate. If you do not have a birth certificate and were born in Texas you can go to the County Clerks office and for a fee they will print you a certified copy. If you were not born in Texas, then the county of the state where you were born should be able to advise you.
The travel professionals at The Travel Factory can’t issue passports, but we can give you advice on how to obtain them, and we can sell you an exciting cruise vacation, a romantic honeymoon, a family trip to Disney, or help you navigate the myriad of holiday airfares, so give us a call today at 698-1421 or toll-free 800-760-4040.